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The Girl of No Consequence – Today’s Excerpt

Working on A Cape of Feathers again today, and wanted to leave you all with another excerpt:

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“Will I merit a stabbing by asking…who you are?” Dartev hazarded. Though subtle, he did not miss that the girl turned abruptly evasive, averting her eyes. “No one of consequence,” she deflected, not leaving it open for discussion.

Was that shame that flitted across her face? Embarrassment? Dartev could not quite peg it before she glazed it over, glaring dully back at him.

“A name, then?” he asked. “Or is that of no consequence either?”

“It isn’t,” she said, blunt and unabashed. “But I do have one.” Only as she said this did it seem to trigger something inside her, and for a moment her gaze turned inward, or into the past. “At least, I had one. Once.”

Just as quickly her focus snapped back to him, returning to the present. “But there is no one out here to use it. That is why it is of no consequence. Now, if you don’t mind… I’ll be on my way.”

Pulling her wings more snugly around her, she traipsed past him, making off into the woods.

Thrown off by her manner, so far from any etiquette that Dartev knew how to navigate, he let her go by, almost disappearing into the trees before he called after her.

“Are you that girl?” he asked, and she stopped, her back to him. He tried hard to place the face, such a vague impression from his past. Her back being to him now did nothing to bring a match into focus, but he was sure, suddenly, that he knew who she was. “The one who disappeared. The one…who couldn’t jump.”

Did she tense ever so slightly as he said that last bit, or was that his imagination? It was hard to say, but she didn’t turn around.

And then her name came to him, without need for a current introduction.

“Perra,” he said, watching her closely for a reaction.

She emoted nothing obvious, but he could see it in the way the muscles of her back were clenched, casting her spine in a valley of shadow. He was distracted for a moment, noting her definition. She was strong.

Instinct said she was not going to reward with him with a confirmation, but in the end she gave him just that, albeit in what was quickly becoming apparent as her choice, unfailing manner.

“Congratulations,” she said. “You’ve guessed the name of no consequence.”

And then she continued on her set path, disappearing into the trees without a backward glance.